Re: What would have made "X-Men: The Last Stand" the best of the series:

Phoenixfire, may I include some of your points in my analysis? I see we're on the same page on alot of things and I don't want to be reduntant.

Quote:

6. Professor Xavier is sweet, wise fatherly character. Except he locks up Jean's split personality rather than working to reintegrate her shattered psyche following a traumatic childhood event, and then does the same after she arises from a similar trauma as an adult compounded by the apparent killing of her love. He also questions the morals of planting a mind in the brain-dead body of another. Then up and does it with impunity.[/COLOR]

Here's my problem with this. He seems to understand exactly what's wrong with Jean, and what the danger is. It's very clear that Jean is going to be very confused and upset, and the best thing to do is 1) keep her calm, 2) use positive reassurance that she's safe, 3) keep her focused, and 4) DO NOT ACT LIKE YOU'RE TRYING TO SMOTHER HER OR CAGE HER. He understands this clearly. He should have left her to be watched by Storm, her best friend and sister, or even someone like Rogue if they needed to be away. Instead, he leaves her with Wolverine who despite good intentions messes up badly. Then he tracks her down to her house. Magneto is screwing with her head, promising her great visions of grandeur and gadlihood. Magneto obviously wants to turn her agains her friends and use her as a tool. Xavier never tried to convince Jean that Magneto was lying. He never tried any kind of positive reenforcement or to try and just comfort her. IE "I just wanted to talk Jean. Will you hear me out, please? We miss you and we're worried about you. We don't want to cage you". Instead he does exactly what he knows will anger her and sets her off. He's dealing with a frightened child, a frightened animal running on instincts, hysterical, afraid, and cowering in a corner, ready to lash out with sharp claws. Instead of extending a proverbial hand to her and letting her earn his trust and come to him, he instead tries to throw nets on her and literally smother her, then do the equivalent of raping her mind. He further sets her off by telling her she killed Scott, and at the very end makes it clear that the debate he introduces in class wasn't really a debate as he took that solution for himself.

What further compounds the problem is that Jean never, ever showed any hint of resentment, bitterness or anger to the Professor. If it had been a feeling deep down inside her, then there should have been at least a clue! Especially during X2 for the mental blocks people who insist that her powers and phoenix persona were coming to the surface. But instead we get the exact opposite of her attitudes towards Xavier:

In the extra scene between her an Xavier late at night in Cerebro, Xavier sincerely regrets getting her and the others involved in his work where they could have led normal, regular lives. With tears in her eyes, Jean clearly tells him: "I can't speak for the rest, but without you it wouldn't have been a life worth living" and kisses him on the forehead. And later on as Xavier recovers from his Coma, Jean tells him that she's glad he is back, and Xavier thanks her for "being there to guide me back".

A leap like this is too much to believe. It's clearly a contradiction from what was established in X1 and X2, and one of the examples in which X3 is inconsistent with previous material

__________________He'd never believed in life after death until Jean had died, and he still wasn't sure what he believed, but he believed in something. Maybe he just believed in her.
Jean: Mom says the only way I can cook is over a bunsen burner.